The new numbers, based on a comparison of voter registration rolls with PennDot ID databases, shows the potential problem is much bigger, particularly in Philadelphia, where 186,830 registered voters – 18 percent of the city’s total registration – do not have PennDot ID.

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Republican lawmakers pushed the bill through the legislature in March and it was signed into law by Gov. Corbett, over protests from Democrats that the measure would disenfranchise thousands of voters, disproportionately affecting those without driver’s licenses – the poor, the elderly, and the young.

House Republican leader Mike Turzai acknowledged the law’s political implications at a Republican State Committee meetinglast month.

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A Department of State spokesman, Ron Ruman, noted that 167,566 of the registered voters without PennDot ID were classified as “inactive,” not having voted in the last four years. “Our experience is, a lot of these people are former college students who don’t live here anymore,” he said in an interview.

Philadelphia’s top election official, City Commission Chair Stephanie Singer, said the figures reinforced her view that the state’s new law was designed to suppress voter turnout in the predominantly Democratic city.

With 18 percent of voters not having PennDot ID, she said, “Philadelphia is hit much harder by this than any of the other counties.”

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Behind Philadelphia’s 18 percent, nine other counties – Allegheny, Cameron, Centre, Cumberland, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Montour, and Union – were reported to have 10 percent to 12 percent of their voters without PennDot ID. In the other 57 counties, more than 90 percent of voters reportedly had driver’s licenses or nondriver ID, according to the state data.

In 2008, Barack Obama won Pennsylvania by the biggest majority of any candidate since 1972 — 620,478 votes. So, the total number of voters lacking ID is greater than that. Most of Obama’s margin came from his landslide in Philadelphia County — 478,759 votes over John McCain. So, the total voter bloc that lacks valid ID is about 39 percent as large as the Obama-McCain margin.

You see the problem for Obama. It’s entirely possible that, on election day, a majority of Pennsylvanians will want to vote for the Democrat, but a few hundred thousand of them will lack the tools to do so under the new ID law. Student IDs, military IDs, and passports will be enough to get you counted, but only the first kind of ID disproportionately favors Democrats.

The new estimates fail to account for people who have a form of ID other than a PennDOT-issued one.

19 thoughts on “More PA Voters Lack PennDOT ID Cards”

What do you know about the hanging chad anyway? I voted in FL in the 2000 election. The ballot, designed by the democratic party that year, was the worst I ever voted with. Most people had to use their pin pusher twice to get the chads out. The holes were not clean. The punch cards they used were a disaster.

And there were more unqualified voters in the 2000 Florida election voting in that election than the gap in votes. (Motor Voter SNAFU)

That so-called voter fraud was so prevalent on the part of Democrats that Republicans won both houses in the Legislature and the Governor’s office. Yeah, that was a huge problem. [sarcasm] My voter registration card and signature has been enough for me to vote for the past 33 years. I am so frustrated by this ridiculous posturing by Republicans.

These laws are about voter suppression and the voters should throw out all of those legislators “REPUBLICANS” who resorted to these tactics to kill our democracy! I have seen enough of this return to “old southern politics” to turn my stomach sour and I fear the results of our accepting this new reality as a basis for running our nation!

The voters who sued to challenge the PA Photo ID Law — all citizens (one a veteran) who are registered to vote and have been voting for years — do not have have and, more importantly, cannot obtain one of the approved forms of photo ID no matter how much time you give them. You can read more about it here: http://freeandequalpa.wordpress.com/summary-of-applewhite-petition/

What all the Republicans forget to tell you is they restricted the types of IDs you can use making it harder for people to provide ID. Best example is not permitting the elderly to use their expired driver license the photo is still the same person or how about eliminating the use of student photo IDs the Republicans knew student IDs properly identify the voter but most colleges and universities in PA don’t include expiration dates on their IDs. This was designed to suppress the vote to prevent voter fraud. Here are the facts and nothing but the facts: UFO Sightings Are More Common Than Voter Fraud:http://www.motherjones.com/pol…

@sweatyfederalist — they got registered because they had proper identification at the time they registered. One should not need an unexpired, state-issued, photo ID with an expiration date on it to vote. Voting is one of our most fundamental rights.

It is real simple and there is plenty of time. Those that care will take the time and fulfill thier responsibilities to assure thier vote counts. If the aren’t responsible citizens, they won’t get the ID and then don’t deserve to vote. This whole argument is total BS. We need to true the vote and make sure those that vote are entitled to vote. It ain’t hard and it ain’t rocket science. Get your ID or don’t vote.

I made sure I had my ID, stop thinking you are entitled to vote if your don’t make the modest effort to get a valid ID.

Is this a “voter tax” put on seniors, students, and the impoverished by the Administration of Gov. Tom Corbett? These people should be ashamed of themselves regardless or what party the affected folks belong to. Then they turn around and lie about the percentages affected. Where the he’ll is the tea party on this one… phonies.